Influence of certain tooth characteristics on the esthetic evaluation of a smile

Abstract

Objective: To assess the influence of certain dental characteristics on the perception of smile esthetics by undergraduate dentistry students. Methods:Ten digital photographs of a woman's smile were modified using Adobe Photoshop software. The following changes were performed: stain removal; incisal edge straightening; gingival leveling; closure of black triangles. A group of 60 undergraduate dental students evaluated the original photograph and the altered images using a visual analog scale to evaluate smile esthetics. Intraexaminer agreement was checked for 30 examiners using the Student t test; for casual error, the Dahlberg formula was used. Data were described as means and standard deviations, and reported in tables.Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the first and second scores assigned by examiners (p>0.05) in any of the comparisons made. The results of systematic error for the method indicated that the measures obtained were reliable. ANOVA was used to test equality of means, and the level of significance was set at 5%. Equality of variances was evaluated using Levene's test, and results revealed that variances were equal. Multiple comparisons using the Tukey's test revealed statistical significance at a 5%level for the presence of black triangular space. No significant values were found for other comparisons.Conclusions: Some dental characteristics were perceived by undergraduate students, and the black triangular space was classified as the most unfavorable characteristic.

Morphological Simulation of Different Incisal Embrasures: Perception of Laypersons, Orthodontic Patients, General Dentists and Orthodontists

“…Furthermore, laypersons and dentists hold conflicting opinions within the realm of esthetics. It has been found that dentists are more stringent in their evaluations than laypersons . In this context, some features of the smile were not easily perceived by laypersons.…”

“…Moreover, they do not focus their attention on specific aspects of the smile, unlike dentists, who are trained through formal education to be more discerning. 6 Matters pertaining to esthetics and to different dental and gingival features have been studied with the purpose of learning about the patient's general preferences regarding this subject, and so as to provide guidance towards better treatment planning in light of the patient's opinions. 7,8 Tooth shape is one of the factors that has had a great impact on smile esthetics, and it is influenced by the individual s preferences, age, gender or cultural, and ethnic features.…”

“…In this context, some features of the smile were not easily perceived by laypersons. Moreover, they do not focus their attention on specific aspects of the smile, unlike dentists, who are trained through formal education to be more discerning …”

Smile Preferences of Orthodontists and Patients from Frontal View about Gingival Display, Occlusal Cant and Smile ARC: A Study from Isra Dental College

“…1 The esthetics word has been derived from a Greek word `esthesis` which means perception. 2 Each individual has their own parameter for definition of beauty. 3 Due to advances in dentistry the prevalence of tooth decay has been reduced but at the same time esthetic demand among patients has been increased.…”

The perceptions of preclinical and clinical dental students to altered smile aesthetics

“…[16][17][18][19] Smile interpretation and specifically how beauty is measured by laypersons has been found to be highly subjective and influenced by multiple factors such as culture, upbringing, ethnicity, age and gender. 20 A Brazilian study of dental students compared tooth characteristics and factors affecting aesthetics such as staining, white spots and rotations of the teeth; dental students judged interdental spacing between anterior teeth ('black triangles') to be the most unacceptable characteristic of an aesthetic smile, 21 but the study was limited as all the images were shown to students for a single short period of 20 s, before moving on to the next image. Moreover, the images were presented using a light projector, and although the authors ensured that the lighting was appropriate, projectors are known to enlarge photos and decrease the acuity of the image; certain features such as staining of the teeth may not therefore have been easily detected by the students which could explain why staining was not judged as aesthetically unacceptable.…”